Alan Shatter was asked by a garda to take a breathalyser test which he failed to complete late one night.

Instead he told the officer he was a TD on the way home from the Dail and he heard no more about it.

Such is the charmed life of our public representatives.

Mr Shatter's asthma is of no consequence. The fact is he was asked to undertake a breath test and he failed to complete it. Had he been an ordinary member of the public he would have been taken to the nearest Garda station where a blood or urine test would have been taken.

Every week motorists appear in the courts for refusing to be breathalysed and in many cases they claim they are asthmatic. Mr Shatter's arrogance is simply breathtaking. The way he responded to the Mattie McGrath's allegations you'd think he was above the law.

That's because he, and the other 165 deputies in the Dail, actually are.

Thanks to an antiquated rule, TDs are virtually immune from arrest if they are on the way to or from the Dail.

This rule was put in place when there was a real danger that deputies would be prevented from attending the new parliament.

No such threat now exists and this rule should be changed.

Until it is, there exists one law for the people and none for the politician.

As for Mr Shatter and his asthma, it is a source of constant amazement how he never once ran out of breath during his many long-winded speeches.